Graffiti has long been an easy option for musicians wanting to co-opt a little bit of urban verisimilitude – to literally acquire some street credibility. Now two graffiti artists are hitting back at what they view as the unlicensed appropriation of their work, and are proceeding with lawsuits against Kiesza, the singer of 2014’s No 1 hit Hideaway, and the designers of Katy Perry’s Met Gala dress.

The artist Jamie Mitchel Kosse – known as Jamie Hef – has filed a federal complaint in the US against Kiesza – real name Kiesa Rae Ellestad – and her record company, Universal, over the video for Hideaway, which featured the singer dancing her way around a New York City block featuring walls covered in his work. Kosse argues that, when his work has featured in other films, the companies involved have paid to license his work.

The Courthouse News Service reports that his complaint says the Hideaway video “creates the false impression that plaintiff endorses Kiesza, which he does not, and that he authorised the usage of his highly distinctive works to promote the launch of Kiesza’s career”. He argues that the use of his work was because it is “emblematic of the gritty, cool image that Kiesza projects in the Hideaway video”.

Meanwhile, the artist Joseph Tierney – AKA Rime – has been granted permission by a California judge to proceed with a case concerning the dress Perry wore to the Met Gala in New York in May. Tierney claims the dress – designed by Jeremy Scott and made by Moschino – borrows from his mural Vandal Eyes. Crucially, the dress featured Tierney’s tag, Rime, in its design, which the US district judge Stephen Wilson felt allowed him to pursue the case for misuse of his nickname, citing the legal protection given to Cher for her nickname.

He also rejected Moschino’s claim that it was a “user” rather than an “infringer” of Tierney’s work, saying: “As plaintiff argues, taking defendants’ theory to the extreme, virtually any person who took another’s work and placed their name or band on it could be considered a ‘user of a work’ rather than an infringer, and escape liability.”